Why your grandparents' stories could be more valuable than you think

Passing on knowledge to friends and family can provide a boost to pensioners' wellbeing, making them both healthier and happier, according to a new study. The research, published in Social Psychology Quarterly, shows that people over the age of 60 who are able to pass on pearls of wisdom to loved ones consider their lives to be 'very meaningful'.

Conversely, elderly people who don't have an opportunity to share their experiences feel their lives to be more pointless, scientists found. While over-60s clearly benefit most from giving and sharing their worldly knowledge, it seems that this is the age where opportunities to do so become increasingly scarce. Professor Markus Schafer, of Toronto University, said:

"This association between advice giving and life meaning is not evident for other age groups. Overall we interpret these findings to suggest the developmental demands of late midlife – particularly the desire to contribute to others' welfare and the fear of feeling 'stagnant' – fit poorly with the social and demographic realities for this segment of the life course. Just when giving advice seems to be most important, opportunities for doing so seem to wane."

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Another study, which surveyed 2,583 US adults, found 21% of those in their 60s and 27% of those over 70 reported giving advice to no one in the previous year – compared to only about 10% of under 60s.

Keeping up contact

While the ideal mentor figure is someone older with a lot of life experience, it seems that social activity among the elderly is quite restricted, meaning that opportunities to impart advice are limited. This ties in with studies conducted by Age UK, which found that 1 in 10 people over the age of 65 reported always or often feeling lonely, and half of all older people saying that the television was their main form of company.

Scientists involved with the studies highlighted the importance for elderly people to feel like they can still have influence on others through actions such as giving advice to family and younger generations.

Professor Schafer said: "Our findings underscore the importance of giving older adults occasions to share their wisdom and life experiences."

A problem shared: It's important to maintain contact with elderly friends and relatives

GettyTara Moore

He also suggested that communities should be more involved with the wellbeing of older generations, adding:

"Schools, churches, civic organisations and other community groups could consider how to facilitate inter-generational mentorship experiences and to creatively enable more older adults to be advice-givers."

So, now is the time to step up the contact between yourself and the older generations in your family. Whether it be a big conversation or a quick chat, it'll be beneficial to everyone. Who knows what nuggets of information you might uncover!

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